First Impressions
by xenowriter
Summary: Drack doesn't trust Celeste Ryder, but learns he may be wrong about her.


FIRST IMPRESSIONS

A loud rumble woke Drack up from his slumber on top of the ridge that overlooked the basin. "What the hell was that?" His question remained unanswered as he slowly rose to his legs to look out. The haze made it hard to see far in the distance. A low growl rose in his throat as he panned over the ridge. His mind thought back to his earlier encounter with the newest Initiative acquaintance. The red head female that called herself the Human Pathfinder. She was accompanied by two other humans that wore the same uniforms with the sickening logos. The Initiative….even the word left a sour taste in his mouth. He met Celeste Ryder at the kett outpost. Her attack had drawn the kett out like varren to a piece of meat. This made his infiltration easier and at least he had some targets to squash. Even if the three of them could hold their own against the kett forces, he didn't trust them. He didn't trust her. The Initiative was ran by Director Tann now and he had no love for the krogan. Most salarians didn't and Drack didn't have any love in return. What would make a human any different?

There were no signs of an explosion and no sounds of gunfire. What he felt didn't make any sense. It felt like something transpired underground. Becoming frustrated that he only got in two hours of sleep, he moved down the makeshift path to check out what was going on. Something had to be up.

As Drack trudged along to investigate the strange phenomena he witnessed, his gaze upward made a startling discovery! The sky…it was clearing up! Stopping in midstride, he rubbed his eyes to make sure no sand particles were causing the illusion. Was it a mirage? Krogan were used to harsh conditions on Tuchanka such as radiation and heat, but did his old body finally have enough?

No, his eyes and mind were not playing a sadistic trick on him. The sky was clearing up. What would cause such a change? Then something caught his eye. There was movement to the east of him. Kett! They were over near the less flashy Remnant structures. Checking his weapon and clips, Drack decided it was time to spring back into action. He moved in quicker and tried to stay to the right of the group so he wouldn't be in their straight path of vision. He wanted to get the drop on them the best he could, but the location didn't provide any cover for an ambush. Still, he didn't want to be a pyjak and run into a barrage of gunfire.

His feet thudded against the ground as he charged. His weapon poised. Before any of the enemy had a chance to recognize his presence and open fire, he pulled the trigger and sprayed the first poor bastard with numerous rounds. The ammo pierced the flesh and struck vital organs making his body become a bloody pulpy mess. Just as the next one had a chance to react, Drack was up on him and used the bayonet on his gun to pierce its chest. The kett's body lurched forward from the strike and while holding the weapon firmly, Drack threw him against another one. Letting out an angry roar, he head-butted another before dodging finally some counter fire. Hearing their alarmed voices, Drack quickly assessed that he was wrong in the opposing force numbers. He believed this was a small isolated group that contained five at the most. The structures hid their true numbers. There were at least twelve! The odd were against him, but he wasn't going to let a thing like that stand in his way of victory. He roared again and opened fire on a brave kett who moved towards Drack's location first to flush him out. The return fire started to hit his shields and he grunted as he felt one round break through and skim his leg. Enraged, Drack used his own hand and smacked away the kett that was lucky enough to get that shot in.

Out of nowhere, two nearby kett troopers groaned as they took on fatal hits by an unknown force. Drack spun around to see Celeste Ryder running with her assault rifle blazing. The same man and woman that accompanied her earlier were at her side. Ignoring his urge to figure out where she came from and why she bothered on helping him, he turned back around to take on the remaining forces. After killing another kett, Drack looked to his right to see Celeste side stepping to avoid fire and then leaping up and stabbing a kett with her omni blade. The alien howled in pain then his mouth filled with blood. This made the krogan chuckle in delight. Something inside him stirred with primal rage seeing the complete brutality of this woman and he head-butted the nearest kett, shattering its skull. As if he was in a competition, he spun around and grabbed another kett's arm and slung him into one of his own kind. Before he had a chance to make the final blow, Celeste shot them up with her rifle. Drack grinned and panted to catch his breath as he looked around to see the bloody mess that now littered Eos' landscape. "That fight was…..fun."

Celeste also took a moment to breathe. "You're telling me."

"You can really handle yourself, kid." Maybe after all he got the wrong first impression of her.


End file.
